Patriarchy and the Male Gaze

Raquel Welch, 1976

In John Berger's Ways of Seeing, he discusses the male gaze in the Renaissance period. Even though Berger focuses on this time period, the male gaze is still very applicable today because it is reflected in many movies and photographs that are viewed on a daily basis. According to Berger, the male gaze is heavily dependent on a man's presence as, "his presence may be fabricated, in the sense that he pretends to be capable of what he is not. But the presence is always towards a power he exercises on others" (Berger 46). On account of the male gaze, the man is regarded as the dominant figure whereas the woman is passive and objectified for the desires of the man. This variation of roles is the reason why patriarchy is powerful today. Patriarchy is the proposal that the man is superior to the woman in every way and must obey his commands thus the woman does not have control of her body and has to conform to what he deems as acceptable. Bell Hooks declares this by stating that in patriarchy, "males are inherently dominating, superior, to everything and everyone deemed weak, especially women, and endowed with the right to dominate and rule over the weak and to maintain that dominance through various forms psychological terrorism" (Hooks 18). Over time, this belief of the dominant man has become so prominent in a society that it nearly goes unrecognized and is habitually etched into the minds of many. In movies such as Loana "One Million Years B.C, the character Loana, played by Raquel Welch, the actress is seen half-naked even though she is supposed to be a cavewoman. Her clothing extremely resembles that of a bathing suit than what was really worn during the period, "Loana’s raggedy clothes barely held her breasts in place, and her beautiful hair and long legs make her look less like a cavewoman and more like a Victoria’s Secret model" ("Top 10 Needlessly Sexualized Female Movie Characters", 2018). Movies depict hypersexualized women to satisfy the desires of what others want to observe. Essentially, not only men have a solidified perspective of the appearance of a woman but so do women themselves. When women look at magazines, they frequently see other women that do not exhibit an image of themselves resulting in the female gaze. Because of the female gaze, there are so many industries gaining from women's insecurities or wishes to look like some of the models that are in magazines or on billboards. Some examples would be beauty creams, wrinkle concealers, make-up, etc. 

In magazines, beauty standards are profoundly ingrained which further develops the incorporation of the male gaze into the minds of thousands. I can relate to this on a personal level as I am regularly on social media stumbling onto pictures of other women that to do not look like me in various advertisements such as Victoria's Secret. Advertisement today are consistently pushing unrealistic beauty standards that mold the ways in which women view themselves. Overall, the male gaze and patriarchy are two very real constructs that still have a substantial grip on society's viewpoint on art and women.  

Josephine Skriver

Bibliography 

• Berger, John, and Michael Dibb. Ways of Seeing: Based on the BBC Television Series Directed by Michael Dibb. British Broadcasting Corporation, 2008.
• Hooks, Bell. Understanding Patriarchy. Louisville Anarchist Federation Federation, 2010.
• Top 10 Needlessly Sexualized Female Movie Characters. (2018).  https://www.watchmojo.com/video/id/14116/